


Every Lifetime

by chatterboxrose



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 02:46:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3192353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chatterboxrose/pseuds/chatterboxrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Kurt woke up and the last few years of his life - meeting Blaine, going to New York, everything - was just a dream. Memories in his head? What if his memories start to come true? AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Lifetime

Kurt wakes with a jolt and immediately feels confused at where he is. It takes him a few moments to take in the ceiling – of his basement bedroom, of course, he remembers – and the feeling of his full size bed. Then he thinks, oh yeah, I’m home. Of course I am.

He had just been exchanging vows with a handsome man, kissing as – weirdly enough, Brittany and Santana also kissed – and becoming married.

Strange.

Then in the next few moments, things become even more strange, because this dream he was having was…detailed. Extremely.

Kurt lays there, stunned as he reviews his dream, all the while waiting for the memories of the dream to slip away – as they always do for him. Kurt never remembers his dreams for long. They are usually gone by the time he is brushing his teeth, unless he writes them down.

Instead, the memories remain clear in his mind.

This wasn’t just some dream of his fairytale wedding. This was…years, he realizes. The dream started when he was in junior year and met this boy and went on and on from there – nearly four years.

That wasn’t possible, was it, to have a dream that felt like four years, with all the little details and mundane day to day activities?

Kurt pushes himself out of bed and hurries to the bathroom, flipping on a light. Staring back at him is what he expected – well, sort of. It’s regular 17-year-old him. His face with a little bit of baby fat left on it and flat hair. Kurt can still remember what he looked like in his dream. Sharp angles of his face, muscles on his body and – his hair.

He squints at his reflection. Why had he never thought to wear his hair up, out of his face, like that? It looked amazing on him in the dream.

Kurt lingers there for a while, then continues out to his room. He looks at the clock and notes that his alarm is supposed to go off in the next ten minutes. He turns it off and starts getting ready for the day, still dwelling on his dream. It’s sort of remarkable, to remember all these details…he knows that in dreams you are suppose to know things you aren’t suppose to – but this is extreme. This was a whole life he lived out – four years of it – even though Kurt logically knows he went to bed just eight hours ago.

More than that, it had felt so real.

He feels his face heat up as his mind goes straight to the…more intimate memories (and oh, there are so many) with the man. Blaine. His name was Blaine Anderson and he had been the love of his life in this…dream.

Then his mind jumps to Finn. His heart sinks at remembering that. That had been a nightmare. It can’t have been real.

In front of the mirror later, after he’s showered and dressed, Kurt decides to try to style his hair like in the dream. It works pretty well, after a few tries, and he really likes the way it looks.

Kurt goes up to the kitchen to make breakfast. His dad is sleeping on the couch and he remembers suddenly – his dad has only been back from the hospital for a few days now. He stares at his dad and remembers a cold winter night in New York and his dad saying – “I have cancer.”

He shakes his head. No. That’s not…real.

Although, maybe he’ll suggest his dad start getting checked out for things like that. Just in case.

When Kurt gets to school, he feels out of place. Mercedes gushes over his hair and asks him where he got the idea. Kurt shrugs and says it just came to him.

The next few days are…hard to explain.

Mostly they are filled with déjà vu. Too much, honestly, and it’s making Kurt uncomfortable.

Then Mr. Schuester brings up the “duets” competition and Kurt almost falls off his chair.

He’d dreamed this. This exact scene.

Kurt looks to Sam, who looks strange. The boy he’d last seen – in his dream at least – was nothing like this boy in front of him now.

Too blond, obviously.

Kurt decides to let this play out. It’s probably just a coincidence. So he experiments. He goes through his actions just as he remembers from the dream.

The results almost scare the hell out of him.

Everything he says gets the same reaction – word for word as far as he can tell – from his memories.

Kurt sits as he watches Sam and Quinn sing – the very same song from his dream – near the end of the week and accepts that there is something more to his dream than he first thought.

He looks around at his friends – the faces that aren’t even here yet – and remembers details of their futures. He looks at Rachel and Santana, remembers their time in New York together, then to Finn and his heart sinks again. Mercedes, Tina, Mike – he recalls all of their “futures” easily.

Could it be that these futures are the real deal?

There is something missing, though.

Blaine Anderson.

So much of Kurt’s dream hinges on this boy. A boy he’s never even met. For all he knows, it’s a figment of Kurt’s imagination. In fact, it must be.

Either that or he’s going absolutely insane.

After almost a full week after Kurt woke up from the dream – it’s Friday now and the bell has just run, signaling the end of the school day – he makes his way wearily to his car in the parking lot. Kurt doesn’t see him until he’s only a few feet from his Navigator. He is leaning up against the passenger side door, arms crossed over his chest and looking down at the ground.

Kurt takes him in. The uniform, his hair – it’s all just as he remembers.

He looks up from the ground, eyes widening when he sees Kurt.

“Kurt,” he says, a little breathless as he stands upright and brings his arms to his side.

His voice. It’s – he couldn’t have made that up, could he?

“Blaine?” Kurt finds himself saying before he can stop himself.

Blaine looks just as surprised at Kurt. “You – you know me?”

“I –“ Kurt looks around him, the parking lot becoming more crowded. He crosses the rest of the way to his car and stands next to Blaine. “I….that’s a complicated question.”

“Don’t I know it.” Blaine looks confused – like Kurt does himself. “So you – does that mean you had the dream too?”

“I did,” says Kurt. “You mean – you did?”

“Yes,” says Blaine in a whisper. “I thought I was insane. I mean, at first I thought it was just a weird dream – really long and detailed, you know? – but then I went about my day normally for the last week and I realized that…it wasn’t normal. I knew everything that was happening. Because it felt like I had already lived it all.”

“I…me too,” says Kurt. He can’t take his eyes off Blaine’s face. He’s seen this face nearly everyday for the last four years. Well. The last four years of the dream he’d had. He knows this face. He knows every inch of Blaine’s body, he can’t help himself but thinking, which makes his face go hot. “I literally had a word for word conversation with this guy in my glee club – like I was reading a script with him from my memory. But that’s – impossible.”

“It should be,” says Blaine.

“What…what are you doing here?”

“I finally just – I had to take the chance that maybe you knew me,” says Blaine. “After everything that’s happened this week I – I needed you.” Blaine shakes his head. “It’s sounds crazy but in my dream – our dream – we were…we were everything to each other. So I decided to drive all the way to Lima on a whim today just to see if you even existed. And – you do.”

“I can’t believe you exist, like, really,” says Kurt. “I thought – I didn’t know what to think anymore, honestly.”

Blaine reaches up with both hands and rubs at his eyes, then down his face. “Can we please – go somewhere and talk? Because I feel like I might fall over right now.”

“The Lima Bean?” says Kurt automatically, falling back on these dream memories.

It makes Blaine smile a little bit. “You know, I’ve never actually be there before? In this real time.”

“But…you know the way, right?”

“Better than I know almost anything,” says Blaine, shaking his head. “Same with the drive here. I didn’t even need directions or anything. I just knew it by landmarks.”

Kurt thinks about the drive to Dalton and – yes, he’s pretty sure he, too, could get there on autopilot from his memories.

“I’ll – I’ll meet you there,” says Kurt.

The drive over takes little time and Kurt doesn’t get to prepare at all. He’s…nervous. He’s never had coffee with a boy before – a boy that was gay, that is.

But then, he had. A million times actually. It was their “thing” to have coffee together. Really, he’s done pretty much all you can do with a boy which is…a strange dichotomy to have going on in his mind.

When they get there they walk in together silently, not sure what to say. There is only one other person in line, so when they are finished, Blaine steps up and says –

“One medium drip and a grande non-fat mocha please.”

Kurt looks over to him, eyes wide. “You – you know my coffee order.”

Blaine looks surprised, then smiles slowly. “I…of course I do.”

They have their coffee in a few minutes and make their way over to their table – though they have never actually sat there before – and sit across from each other. After a few, tense, silent moments, they both try to speak at once.

“Why do you think –“

“This is so weird – “

Then they stop.

“You go first,” says Blaine.

Kurt nods. “Um, so, the last week for you has been like…”

“Repeats on TV?”

“I was going to say déjà vu, but yes, that’s another way to say it,” says Kurt. “I look around and everything that is happening – I already knew it was going to happen. Even my show choir director – I knew what lesson he was going to do this week. Then I had a word for word conversation with someone. He was having it for the first time, but I wasn’t.”

Blaine nods slowly. “Same here. Um. Actually my – I had a cat. We’ve had her for most of my life, actually, and she died yesterday. And I knew that she would. That’s when I sort of…well. I realized.”

Kurt can’t stop the tears that form in his eyes. “So you – you think that everything we saw is going to come true?”

“I – I think it’s safe to say.”

Kurt holds back a sob. “But – but Finn –“

Blaine reaches out and takes Kurt’s hand. It’s the first time a boy has held his hand, but it doesn’t feel out of place or weird. (Because really, it’s not the first time.)

“Maybe we can stop that,” says Blaine. “I mean, with my cat it was just old age, with Finn it was an accident. We know when it happens so we can just – stop it from happening.”

“Do you think that would work?”

“We can try,” says Blaine firmly. Kurt nods. Blaine realizes his hand is on Kurt’s and slowly moves it away, but rests it close on the table in front of them. “Why – why did this happen?”

“I…I can’t even begin to think why,” says Kurt. “It’s not normal.”

“It’s not but – but I’m glad.”

“Why?”

Blaine takes a few moments before he speaks next. “Because…maybe now I won’t make all the mistakes that I made in my – our – dream.” He swallows, an audible “lump” sound following. “He – I – cheated on you. I made you feel uncomfortable when we were living together and when I –

“We were both a fault there,” says Kurt. This time he’s the one that reaches out for Blaine’s hand. “We both did things that we regret. But we’ve moved past that. We’re better because of it.”

Blaine nods his head, eyes still full of unshed tears. He clears his throat. “But – even though we have the memories of all those things…now we don’t have to actually go through them if we don’t want to, you know? We can start now as if we’ve – we’ve already lived all that.” Blaine’s eyes widen and he rushes to add – “I mean – if you wanted to. God, I didn’t even think – you might not even want to.”

“I – I do,” says Kurt. “Of course I do. But it is…weird. Because even though I know I’ve…I’ve shared pretty much all my firsts with you, I also know I just met you. That’s – that’s playing with my mind a little bit. It’s –“

“Confusing? I understand,” says Blaine.

“So…let’s not promise anything. Let’s just – sit here and drink our coffee and talk.”

Blaine smiles and nods. He grabs his coffee and takes a sip. “Okay. Um. So music. Let’s talk about music.”

They start to talk about thing that are as far away from their bizarre shared dream of the future as they can – but all roads of conversation seem to lead back to it. They already know all of their favorite musicians and musicals. Kurt already knows Blaine’s deeper secrets – like Sadie Hawkins and his feelings about his brother – and Blaine knows the same about Kurt. Most everything ends with “oh yeah I knew that!” or the like.

Finally, they just end up laughing about it.

“Let’s face it,” says Blaine, still smiling. “We know each other too well.”

“We know things about each other that haven’t happened yet,” adds Kurt. “I mean, we’ve changed in the last four years. I know what your most played song was your junior year of high school and when you moved to New York.” He shakes his head. “This…this is just…”

“Strange. But I like it,” says Blaine. “Is it too soon to ask you to be my boyfriend?”

Blaine says it like he’s joking, but Kurt knows he’s being serious. He just does.

“Well. I did say yes to marrying you – twice – so I think the answer is obvious,” he answers.

Blaine looks surprised. “Are – are you serious?”

“It’s obvious that…that taking the slow path might not work. We know each other like we know ourselves,” says Kurt. “We can try to move…as slowly as we can, because realistically, this is our first relationship. However…I don’t think I could bare to leave this coffee shop without being with you, Blaine.”

The smile on Blaine’s face lights up the room. It’s the smile that Kurt knows he could never live without.

“So – do we just pick up where we left off or –“

“Well, that was exchanging ‘I Do’s’,” says Kurt with a laugh. “And something tells me my dad wouldn’t let me walk down the aisle with someone I just met – technically – at 17. So maybe not exactly but – sort of, in some areas.”

Blaine clears his throat and even he looks awkward saying it. He lowers his voice. “And um, the physical side of our relationship?”

Kurt feels his face heat up. “Well, my mind knows we’ve done it all, but my body…my body is inexperienced and doesn’t. So maybe – maybe that should come when we feel ready for it.”

“Yeah, I feel the same way there,” says Blaine. He shakes his head, as if to clear his mind. “Don’t you feel so…alien? Like – I feel like I’m 20, almost 21, years old and I’m a sophomore in high school. I look at my friends and feel…maturity that I shouldn’t have. And like with us – I’ve done so much with you, but on the other hand, I haven’t.”

In that moment, Kurt realizes Blaine is right. Kurt had graduated high school, moved to NYC and gotten a tattoo. He’d had – had sex before (many, many times) and even gotten engaged – and married at the very end of his dream! –experienced the loss of his brother….he felt old. That’s what had been bugging him since he’d woken up. He felt different because mentally, he’d lived the next four years of his life already. He didn’t feel 17 anymore. Not really. Being around his peers, who suddenly felt younger than him, was jarring.

“I feel the same way,” says Kurt out loud. “I – I feel more out of place than ever, honestly.”

“But you’re not alone,” says Blaine, connecting their hands again.

Kurt smiles. “You always are there to remind me of that, aren’t you?”

“I hope I always am,” says Blaine seriously.

They sit there for over two hours before they decide they should probably be getting home. They stand and slowly walk to the door, then linger between their cars, holding hands.

“Kurt can – can I kiss you?” asks Blaine.

“Yes,” says Kurt before he can even think it through.

Blaine reaches up, putting his hand on Kurt’s cheek and leans forward, kissing him.

Kurt doesn’t know how to kiss – but suddenly, with Blaine’s lips on his – he does.

It’s this kiss that makes it obvious to him: everything in their dream did happen. It’s a fact. Because this kiss makes it all feel even more real.

When they part, Blaine has a dreamy smile on his face. “Oh, there you are,” he says. “I’ve been looking for you forever.”

Kurt reaches out and hugs Blaine close to him. It’s funny, how well their bodies seem to fit next to each other.

The next week that follows is planned by Kurt and Blaine together over the phone. Blaine comes over on Saturday and Kurt introduces him to his dad – as a friend. Then on Sunday, when he and his dad are sitting and watching TV, he brings it up that Blaine actually has asked him out on a date.

“Oh wow,” says Burt. “That’s. Sudden.”

“I really like him, dad,” says Kurt.

“I mean. You should. But – I do want you to be safe, buddy. Not just with…with your body, but with your heart, too,” he says. Kurt nods.

“I understand. I do. Thanks, dad.”

With that laid out, Kurt brings up Blaine to Mercedes on Monday in a gushy, “I met a guy” kind of way. He tells her they are going out tonight and Mercedes comes by his house to pick out an outfit with him. Then she and Blaine pass by each other when Blaine comes to pick him up (which is actually their first “official” date in this new timeline – as they like to call it).

As Kurt expected, the rest of the glee club knows about Blaine by the next morning (since Mercedes is a huge gossip).

On Thursday Kurt and Blaine officially change their relationship status on Facebook. On Friday Burt tells Kurt that he wants him over for their family dinner. Blaine wows Burt, of course, because they are such good friends in their dream memories and knows exactly what to say. There is no real guessing to that.

With each other, that first week is…strange. They have to lay the eggs of how they met and get together to their friends, but with each other, they’re trying to figure out exactly where they stand.

They make out in Kurt’s basement the day Blaine is introduced to Burt. They automatically say I love you after their date on Monday night (and it doesn’t sound strange to say at all).

The only real “trouble” starts when Mr. Schuester announces their competition for Sectionals an additional week later.

“Wait,” says Mercedes. “Isn’t…isn’t Blaine a Warbler?” she asks, looking to Kurt.

“Oh no, not again! This is emotional sabotage!” says Rachel, standing. “Obviously the Warblers found out that we were their competition and are setting out to through off our harmonization by once again romancing one of our own!” She looks to Kurt. “I’m sorry, Kurt. I really am.”

“That isn’t true,” says Kurt, crossing his arms over his chest. God, he forgot how overdramatic Rachel could be in high school. And well, she was like this in New York, actually…

“Look, I know this is your first love, but I must protest!”

“Rachel, Kurt’s boyfriend couldn’t have known,” says Mr. Schue, standing up. “They literally just selected our competition sets three days ago. It was by random draw.”

“You can trust Blaine, Rachel,” says Kurt. “I – I do. I can’t explain why, but I do.”

Mercedes corners him later in the hall. “Aren’t things moving a little fast between you and Blaine?”

“What? No.”

“Kurt. I saw your texts with him. When you handed me your phone to change the music in the car yesterday,” she says softly. “You’re already exchanging I Love Yous. You’ve known him for two weeks.”

“Look, Mercedes, what Blaine and I have….” Kurt lets out a breath. “I have my head firmly on my shoulders. I do. I’m not crazy over some guy I just met. And it might sound naïve to say, but I feel like I’ve known Blaine for years. Please, just…trust me on this.”

“Okay,” says Mercedes. “But I will be here for you if it ends up that he isn’t for you, okay?”

While Kurt and Blaine said their physical relationship should try to be slow to start, it doesn’t end up that way.

They have sex three weeks into their “relationship” because Blaine admits that he misses being close to Kurt in that way. He laughs as he says it. “It’s weird to miss something I’ve technically never had, isn’t it?” But Kurt admits he feels the same way so they go out and buy the necessary supplies together and have a perfect night – just as good as the first time they had in their dreams (without all the Sebastian drama, thankfully).

It’s a week after that first time that Kurt’s dad walks in on them in half undress on Kurt’s bed.

Burt had just started to be able to walk around the house more freely after his heart attack and Kurt forgot to lock the door. They jump apart, embarrassed (though of course, Burt had walked in on them a few times in the four years of their future memories) and grab for their clothes.

Burt asks for them to come up to the kitchen and sits them down. He asks them if they really thought about all this.

“You two haven’t known each other long,” he says with a sigh. “I know how young love can be but…I don’t know if I can approve of this sort of thing in my home.”

“Burt – we’re sorry about that but – it’s not too soon,” says Blaine before he can stop himself.

“Call me crazy but a month seems a little rushed to me,” says Burt.

“Dad, I’ve been with Blaine for years and –“

“Years? Kurt, what are you talkin’ about?”

Kurt realizes then what he let slip. He looks to Blaine and shrugs.

After that, the truth just spills out. He recounts the weirdness of waking up from this dream and how a week later, Blaine showed up and proved to him that it was real. About how he feels so much déjà vu because he’s already lived through all this before.

“Kurt…are you… are you okay?” asks Burt, looking rather concerned.

“Dad, I’m not lying and I’m not crazy,” says Kurt. “I’ll prove it. I know you’re going to propose to Carole soon, at the school, where I introduced you.”

“You – no one knows about that,” says Burt. “I haven’t even gotten around to buying the ring yet. How – “

“And in this dream, this future, you had prostate cancer, dad,” says Kurt. “So I want you to start getting check ups. Tell your doctor when you go next, okay?”

“Kurt…”

“The Green Bay Packers, New York Giants and the Baltimore Ravens – those are the winners for the next three Superbowls. Dad, you know I know nothing about football,” says Kurt. “But I know that because of you and Blaine because you always insist on watching it together. And then talking about it for weeks afterwards. I also – I also know that Carole’s husband didn’t die in war. He died here, because he was dishonorably discharged and developed a drug problem.”

“Kurt…how…Carole only just admitted – “ Burt stares at him. “How.” 

“I can’t explain how, I just know this,” says Kurt. “Because I have four years worth of memories that I shouldn’t have, but I do. Please, please just – Blaine and I – we’re engaged. We’re married in this future. That’s why it’s not too soon for us to be intimate. We waited for almost a year to do it the first time around and got to know each other emotionally before that – and we miss that part of our relationship. It’s a really weird situation, but it’s where we are.”

It takes Burt a while. He has to sit and digest it but he seems to come to some sort of truce.

The next day in the afternoon, Burt comes home from his doctor’s appointment with Carole and sits down with Kurt. 

“You’re right. The doctor said he saw some pre-cancerous indicators when he did an exam. He’s going to have it wait a few months and check back, but you’re right, aren’t you?” he says.

“In that future,” he says, eyeing Carole warily. “That…it doesn’t happen until I’m a freshman in college. But yes, he will probably find something then.”

“I told Carole. I had to see if she had told you or let something slip about – about Christohper.”

“No one knows about him,” says Carole. “I’ve never wanted to tell Finn. To ruin the memory of his father…not even his grandparents know the truth.”

“You tell him. Next year – Finn gets the idea that he wants to fight in a war like his dad. Be a hero. So you tell him,” says Kurt.

They sit and talk. Kurt tells them that there’s more.

“I’m going to prevent what happens to Finn,” he says when he’s done. “We are. Because – this family has been through too much.”

It’s in this conversation that Kurt brings up something he’s been thinking about a lot lately.

“I want to test out of high school. Or get my GED. I’ve already scheduled my SATs with Blaine,” he says. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell you…”

“Why’s that, Kurt?”

“Dad, I – I know everything. When I’m in class I’m bored. I’ve sat through this all before. Plus I went to Dalton for almost a full semester and their academics are far more rigorous. I’ve been in college level courses for nearly three years and high school is just – I don’t want to have to sit through it again for the next two years. I want to…I want to go to college, with Blaine, if we can get accepted this early.”

Burt and Carole exchange a look then nod.

“Alright kid, if you can do it, you should,” says Burt. He shakes his head. “This is gonna take some getting used to, isn’t it?”

Kurt and Blaine go through the channels at their respective schools to get on the fast track to graduating. They end up choosing to take the GED around the same time as their SAT exams. They pass both and their parents take them out of high school, giving them the time to apply to NYADA together.

Their friends go through various stages when they break the news to them.

“You – you aren’t going to be here anymore?” says Mercedes with shock when Kurt makes the announcement that he’s passed his GED and won’t be attending the school anymore.

“Dude, how did you do that?” asks Finn.

“I – I have to agree, Kurt,” says Mr. Schuester. “That’s – that’s very impressive that you were able to pass the GED – especially with those scores. And your score on your SAT is…well. Impressive.”

“I’m a smart kid. I always have been,” says Kurt with a shrug. “And I realized that I don’t really want to sit around and wait for my life to start in two years. I’ve never liked high school. What I liked – what I liked was this group. This group is the thing that saved me and will continue to save me, even if I’m not physically here,” he says.

“You’ll always be my friends – my family. Even with how annoying you can all be – I love you guys,” says Kurt. He tries not to get emotional. “You’re my best friends,” he says, “And it hurts to think I won’t get to experience things with you in the same way. But I don’t think I can sit through another round of classes here. I want to get into a school in New York and be in a city where I know I can be myself.” 

Blaine doesn’t tell his parents the truth, like Kurt told Burt and Carole. “They just think I’m a genius or something,” says Blaine with a laugh. “Which is fine by me. They were gloating to Cooper over the phone about it.” 

Kurt is nervous to send their applications to NYADA for early admissions. He doesn’t know if their ages will hurt their chances. 

It turns out it only helps. 

They become finalists very quickly and Carmen Tibideaux comes out to Ohio to watch them perform. They decide on just doing it at Dalton’s auditorium, since it’s so nice. 

Kurt takes the risk and performs “Being Alive” - though she had once told him that it was an overdone audition song. Kurt puts all that emotion that he had when he performed it and got in and he can tell he’s done it again. 

Blaine, who had played piano for Kurt’s audition, stands center stage as the Warblers come to the stage to back him up for “Somewhere Only We Know.” Blaine looks to the side of the stage a few times, where Kurt stands, and Kurt knows what he’s thinking - of that sunny day in the McKinley courtyard; another life. 

Their life will be so much different now. 

When Blaine is done, Kurt rejoins him on the stage as Carmen writes down a few notes. Then, after a few long moments, she looks up with a thoughtful expression.

“I am very impressed by your ages,” she begins. “I see the two of you have decided to take the fast route. Your scores are just as impressive. Tell me, why is it you have decided to not attend the rest of high school?”

Kurt and Blaine exchange a look. “Truthfully, Ms. Tibideaux, we feel like we’re better suited for life outside high school,” Kurt says. “We want to begin our lives and our education in subjects we love most. Why stay in high school any longer than we have to if we don’t have to, really.”

“And you decided to do this...together?” asks Carmen. 

“We sort of gave each other the push we needed,” says Blaine. “I don’t think we could have done it by ourselves. Together it’s easier for us.” 

“Hmm, well, in that case,” says Carmen with a raised eyebrow. “I know you weren’t asked to prepare a number together, but if you could perform a duet I might even be impressed for a third time.”

“Oh - well of course,” says Kurt. They look at each other and after a moment know exactly what performance up their sleeve they should sing. 

Brad - who came along in case he was needed - sits at the piano to play for them. They start off on separate ends of the stage, Blaine beginning first. 

“Never knew….I could feel like this….”

Kurt realizes the significance of this performance as soon as they begin. It’s the first time singing together - really singing together, not just goofing off in the car or in one of their rooms - in this timeline. Without Kurt being in the Warblers this time around, there had never been a chance to sing together in a formal setting. 

It’s also the first time they really get to sing “Come What May” together. Kurt still remembers his fantasy of them singing this together; how he had recounted it to Blaine nearly a year later, cheeks pink. How Blaine had grabbed his hand and told him he still wanted to sing it at their wedding. 

It didn’t happen that way, but maybe now it could. 

When the last notes of the song fade away, Kurt and Blaine come back to earth. Brad, Carmen and the auditorium making themselves known again. 

Carmen is clapping, Kurt realizes, which itself is rather shocking.

It’s a slower sort of clap and only a few, but she is smiling. 

“That,” she says, picking up her notebook and pen. “Was impressive indeed.” She stands up and nods at them. “You’ll be hearing from me shortly.” 

She really does mean shortly. Their acceptance letters come in the mail by the end of the week. They are officially going to be NYADA students for the spring semester. 

After an enjoyable Christmas holiday with their families - and even a dinner with both Anderson and Hummel (along with Carole and Finn, of course) - Kurt and Blaine get ready for their move to New York.

This time around, they don’t want to handle the stress of an apartment until maybe their second year - or even when Rachel comes out to the city - and decide to room in the dorms. They’re even lucky enough to get a room together (something neither the Andersons or Burt were that happy about at first), but finally decided it would be better to be with someone their own age, rather than someone a few years older than them and actually college aged. 

Burt, Carole, Finn and Mr. and Mrs. Anderson all help with the move in process. The room is pretty sizable, though they don’t have their own bathroom, but it will do for the first semester. By the time they are all moved in, they are being passed around the room from hug to hug to say a tearful goodbye. 

“Dad, we’re going out to dinner in a few hours! It’s fine!” Kurt insists. Even Blaine tries to calm down his mother with the same thing. 

“You’ll understand when you send your kid off to college,” says Burt, getting emotional and patting him on the shoulder. “Early, no less!” 

Finally, they are left alone in their room with boxes to unpack and decor to put up to make the room cozy. They also plan on pushing their standard extra long twin beds together as soon as they can - but of course they couldn’t let their family in on that little detail. 

“We’re here,” says Blaine, reaching out and taking Kurt’s hand. 

“We really are,” says Kurt. 

From here on out, it’s all a surprise, thinks Kurt. He and Blaine could see what was coming when they were still in Lima and maybe still could to a point. Their friends, family, the people around them - they wouldn’t surprise them (at least not for a few years) - but from this point on, he and Blaine were making their own path. A new one, different than a chance meeting on a staircase, a cat and mouse romance and a lot of heartbreak along the way. It wasn’t going to be worse, or better, than that romance - because oh, was it good - and bad - and everything in between. 

Kurt squeezed Blaine’s hand and took a step closer, bringing his arms around him and reaching over to kiss Blaine’s cheek. 

Kurt was sure (and he was positive that Blaine was sure too) that any life - even one that was different than the first - they spent together would be spectacular.


End file.
